As designed by Apple, iOS and iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are designed to work together reliably. Unauthorized modifications to iOS (“jailbreaking”) can cause numerous issues to the hacked iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Examples of issues caused by these unauthorized modifications to iOS have included the following:

Instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.

Security vulnerabilities: Security compromises have been introduced by these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information, damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or viruses.

Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a single battery charge.

Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as iCloud and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.

Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to iOS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iOS update is installed.

Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of iOS end-user license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.

The U.S. Copyright Office ruled last October that jailbreaking is legal, at least when it comes to smartphones, but Apple considers jailbreaking to be a violation of the user license agreements and will not provide support for hacked devices. In addition, it also (obviously) voids the warranty.

Just a few things to think about before you start playing with your device. If you’re up for taking the chance to be able to use some unlocked code on your iPhone 5, iPad 4G or iPad mini, Evasi0n could be your way to hack yourself to freedom.